Plant-setter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. M. HODSON. PLANT SETTER.

No. 519,712. Patented May 15,1894.

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UNITED STATEs HENRY MILTON HODSON,

PATENT OFFICE.

OF SPIOELAND, INDIANA.

PLANT-SETTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 519,712, dated May 15, 1894.

Application filed September 25, 1893. Serial No, 486.434. (No inodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY MILTON HonsON,a citizen of the United States, residing at Spiceland, in the county of Henry and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Plant-Setter, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for setting out plants; the objects in view being to provide a machine, or an attachment for a planter, that is capable of accommodating two operators employed for the purpose of alternately setting out, and supporting plants in furrows formed by the machine, during the operation of covering the plants; to so arrange the machine as to be capable of raising and lowering into and out of operative position when the machine is not in use or is being turned at the end of a row, and which will mark off for the succeeding row; and that is cheap and simple in its construction and also durable.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description and the novel features thereof will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawingsz-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view. Fig. 3 is adetail of the furrow-forming runner. Fig. 4 is a similar view of the trash-clearer. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the covering-blades.

Like numerals of reference indicate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

It is my design to construct the machine in such manner as to adapt it to be applied to any ordinary planter employed on a farm and to thereby effect a saving in the machine itself in the way of framework, draft, gearwheels, the. If desired, however, I may construct the machine as an entirety and independent of any other machine.

In the'present instance, I have illustrated the transverse axle 1 and ground-wheels 2 of an ordinary planter-frame, the same being provided with the usual draft-tongue 3 that projects in front and in rear of said axle and is rigidly secured to the latter by the usual braces,.bolts, or other extraneous dethe beam 3 which is widened toward its rear endand the same supports a seat 5 for the accommodation of the driver. A pair of front and rear curved and notched locking-standards 6 and 7 respectively are located upon the beam'3, and the same have fulcrumed thereon bell-crank levers 8 and 9 respectively, the said levers being provided with the usual reciprocating locking-bolts or pawls for engaging with the notches of the standards and thereby locking said levers in any of their adjustments.

The machine proper comprises a pair of main beams 10, the same being declined from front to rear and at their front ends mitered and bolted together embracing a draft-plate 11., This draft-plate 11 is perforated and is designed to be connected to the draft-bar 3 of the frame by means of a pivoting-pin 12 which passes through the draft-plate and through a pair of perforated lugs which depend from the beams. Other means of connection will of course suggest themselves. The rear ends of the beams may be rounded as shown and faced with metal plates 14 designed to glide over the ground. In addition to these plates, or in place of them as desired,I may employ inverted L-shaped standards 15, swiveling in the upper ends thereof caster-shanks 16, in which are loosely journaled caster-wheels 17. A cross-bar 18 surmounts the beams 10 and is securely bolted thereto between their ends, and horizontal seat-bars 19 are bolted to the bars 18, extend rearward therefrom above the beams 10, and are bolted to vertical standards 20 which rise from the beams 10 to which they are bolted and are provided with backs 21 for the support of theoperators while seated upon the slidable seats 22. These seats 22 surmount the seat bars, and are provided upon their under sides with keepers 23 that embrace the seat-bars and are therefore adj ustable thereon.

A pair of bearing ears 24 are secured to the under sides of the beams 10 near their point of meeting, and pivoted between the bearingearsby a pin 25 is a V-shaped trash-clearer or fender 26. Straps 27 arise from the rear terminals of this fender or clearer and are loosely connected at their upper ends as at 29 The seat-standard 4 is supported by i l to the lower end of a connecting-rod 30 which passes up through an openingin the beam 3, back of the locking standard 6, and is pivoted as at 31 to the arm of the bell-crank hand-lever 8.

In a pair of bearings 32 formed in the adj usting faces of the beams 10 there are loosely jonrnaled the diverging bearing arms 33 formed at the upper end of the furrow-formin g runner 34. These bearing-arms are located in rear of the bearing-ears 24 so that the runner 34 extends in rear of the fender or clearer 26. The runner is curved and provided at its rear end with a pair of diverging plates 35, whose upper ends are surmounted by flared guards 36, whose rear ends project beyond those of the plates. A transverse brake-pin 37 passes through the plates and is pivotally connected to the lower end of a sliding connecting bar 38. The upper end of this bar is provided with a series of perforations 39 any one of which may be pivotally connected to the rear hand-lever 9 by a pivoting-bolt 40. Hooks 41 project from the opposite sides of the connecting-bar and engage with the upper ends of short chains 42 which are connected with eyes 43 located upon the upper sides of the beams 10. By this it will be seen that through a manipulation of the hand-lever 9 the connecting-rod will serve to elevate or depress the furrow-opening runner and by engaging the chains with the hooks the entire device may be elevated from the ground, which is done when the machine is traveling to or from the field of operation or is in the act of turning at the end of a row.

A pair of resilient bars 43' are bolted to the cross-bar 18 between the side-bars 19, and these bars extend rearward to points near the rear ends of the beams 10 and are provided with blocks 44. The under sides of these blocks are faced with metal shoes 45 Whose front and rear ends are upturned so as to glide over the ground, and secured to the under sides of these shoes are diagonally set covering blades 46 which follow at each side of the path of the furrow-opening plates 35.

This completes the construction of the invention and the operation thereof may be briefly described as follows:

The machine is surmounted by the three operators, one driving, and the other two for the purpose of setting out the plants. The fender 26 is adjusted so as to move over the surface of the ground and clear the sameof all trash, clods, or other loose obstructions from the path of the runner 34. The runner is set to plant as deep as may be desired,the fender and runner being locked in their adj ustments by the means heretofore described. The machine moving it will be seen with the runner forms the usual furrow, and the operators seated upon the seats 22 place the plants in proper position within the furrow thus formed, the operators working alternately in a manner that will be at once obvious, and also holding the plants in position until the furrow-closing blades 46 have directed the soil against said plants, when they will be held thereby.

This completes the simple operation, and it will be seen that the plants are all held in position until the soil is applied, whereby I avoid any danger of entirely covering the plants or setting them improperly, in that by the time that the operator releases them they have been properly covered or set. If at any time the runner should meet with an obstruction calculated to injure the same, the brakepin becomes fractured, and the runner is permitted to glide thereover without injury.

I may employ both the shoes 14 and the caster-wheels 17, or substitute the one for the other as may be desired.

I do not limit my invention to the precise details of construction herein shown and dc scribed, but hold that I may make such variations therein as shall suggest themselves during the practical operation of the machine.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a suitable framework, of the diverging beams, supports for the rear ends of the same, seats carried by each of the beams, a lever carried by the framework, means for locking the same, a runner having its front end loosely connected to the beams and provided at its rear end with furrowforming blades, a connecting-rod between the lever and the runner for adjusting the latter, and covering-devices arranged in rear and at opposite sides of the path of the runner, substantially as specified.

2. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a framework, of a pair of pivoted beams, seats carried by the beams, supports for the rear ends of the beams, a runner having furrow-forming blades pivoted between the beams, furrow-closing devices at opposite sides of the runner in rear of the blades, a hand-lever carrying a locking-pawl, a locking-standard, a connecting-rod between the hand-lever and the furrow-opening runner, hooks at opposite sides of the connecting-rod, and short chains engaging the hooks and secured to the diverging beams, substantially as specified.

3. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a framework having front and rear locking standards, front and rear 1evers arranged thereon and provided with locking-pawls for engaging the standards, of a pair of diverging beams loosely pivoted at their front ends to the framework in advance of the lovers, seats arrangedupon the beams near their rear ends, supports for the beams, a V- shaped trash-clearing fender pivoted at its front end between the beams, and below the same connecting devices between the rear ends of the fender and the front lever, a furrow-forming runner pivotally connected to the beams in the rear of the fender, a connectingrod between the same and the rear lever, and

furrow-covering devices arranged in rear and at the sides of the furrow-forming runner, substantially as specified.

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a framework, of diverging beams pivoted at their front ends thereto, supports for the rear ends of the beams, a furrowforming runner connected with the beams, a lever for raising and lowering the same, a pair of bars extending rearward from the beams at each side of the runner and provided upon their under sides with diagonally set blades,

substantially as specified.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a framework, of a pair of diverging beams pivoted thereto, a lever arranged upon the framework, connections between the same and the beams, a cross-bar arranged upon the beams, a furrow-forming runner supported by the beams and extending in rear of the cross-bar, a pair of springbars extending from the cross-bar at each side of the furrow-formin g runner, blocks secured to the rear ends of the spring-bars, metal shoes having upturned ends arranged upon 2 5 my own I have hereto affixed my signature in 40 the presence of two witnesses. v I

HENRY MILTON HODSON.

Witnesses:

' O. H. NIXON,

NATHAN FOSTER. 

